An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.
Concerning the Descent to Hades.
Chapter XXIX.—Concerning the Descent to Hades.
The soul when it was deified descended into Hades, in order that, just as the Sun of Righteousness rose for those upon the earth, so likewise He might bring light to those who sit under the earth in darkness and shadow of death: in order that just as He brought the message of peace to those upon the earth, and of release to the prisoners, and of sight to the blind, and became to those who believed the Author of everlasting salvation and to those who did not believe a reproach of their unbelief, so He might become the same to those in Hades: That every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things in earth and things under the earth. And thus after He had freed those who had been bound for ages, straightway He rose again from the dead, shewing us the way of resurrection.
Edition and rights
NPNF2-09. Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus. Historical English edition; series volume first published 1899.
S. D. F. Salmond, translator of John of Damascus
Ancient work and historical English translation: public domain in the United States (published before 1931). Copyright rules vary by country. This is a historical source transcription, not an official Church edition. Modern website material is not reproduced.
Historical footnotes and publisher introductions are omitted. Author-written openings are retained. Paragraph whitespace is normalized. Transcriptions can contain errors; this is not a critical edition. Attribution follows the historical edition, not universal scholarly agreement.
Digitization provenance (not an external reading link): https://www.ccel.org/ccel/s/schaff/npnf209.xml
Source section: iii.iv.iii.xxix · Text SHA-256: f070c203c636b60eb875ce8adfb8cb24b4f2ce0b049def970b00bbb52cd22630